Baseboard radiator



O 1953 c. M. WILCOX BAsEoARn RADIATOR sheets-sheet 1 9 1 32. 7o /30 Filed May 1, 1950 R o T N w m CHESTER M h/u. cox

ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 20, 1953 c. M. wlLcox BASEBOARD RADIATOR Filed May 1, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I NVENTOR. Cmssrzn M Wmccx ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 20, 1953 UNlTED STATES -ATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to heat exchangers and more specifically to radiators of the base board type.

'An important object of the invention is to provide a radiator consisting of a plurality of interconnected parts whereby the size of the radiator may be adjusted to fit various situations.

Another important object is to provide such a radiator which may be adjusted horizontally along a wall as Well as vertically so as to embody one or two horizontal cores disposed in parallelism.

A further important object is to provide a base board radiator which may have its supply and return at opposite ends, both at one end, or disposed at points intermediate the ends, thus permitting installations to take the place of conventional radiators of various makes and models, without tearing up floors in order to rearrange the supply and return conduits.

With a view of providing for the best circulation of air through the base board radiator, an important object of the invention is to provide a bottomless housing, raised above the floor, with the support means for the cores so constructed and arranged that the air circulation is not interfered with thereby, and an upper opening with an adjustable damper so disposed that a regulated volume of warm air will be discharged into the room.

Another important object is to provide for movement of the core supports to compensate for longitudinal expansion and contraction of the cores.

Since the installation comprises a desired number of the new base board radiator units, damper adjustments may be made to discharge one volume of warm air into one part of a room and a different volume into another part.

Furthermore, an important object is to provide interlocking end walls, which may be detachably secured to the rear and upper wall sectionsof the radiator housing.

Other objects and'advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of this disclosure and in which drawings V a Fig. 1 is an elevation of the new base board radiator, with parts of a housing thereof broken away in order to reveal portions of the structure beneath.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the new radiator, w th a dam r 1 8. 1

n Fig. 3 is a section, substantially on the line 3--3 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary horizontal section, on an enlarged scale, substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section, substantially on the line 55 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 6 is a vertical transverse section of the upper portion of the radiator housing, with the damper removed.

Fig. 7 is a perspective of an end wall of the housing.

Fig. 8 is a perspective of a fragment of the housing, with end wall removed.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary perspective of support or bracket for a core or cores and a securing means for retaining the damper in adjusted position.

Fig. 10 is a perspective of the damper.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary horizontal section through an ofiset for supporting the damper in various positions and for supporting a front wall of the housing.

Fig. 12 is a view in horizontal section of a fragment of the rear wall of the housing showing the lower portion of the support or bracket of Fig. 8, supporting a latch means to the front wall of the housing.

In the drawings wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of the new radiator, the letter A designates a portion ofa building structure; B, heating installations; and C, the novel radiator.

For the purpose of illustration, there is shown a portion of a building structure A including a floor l5 and vertically disposed wall [6 extending to the floor [5. There is also shown base board trim I1 and I8, which may be portions of a conventional base board, shown at I9 in dotsand-dashes, in Fig. 2, since where the novel radiator is installed in a building already erected, a portion or all of this conventional base board is removed, and only the trim l1 and I8, for example, retained. In installations in buildings being erected, the convention base board, or portions of it, are eliminated and suitable trim such as I! and I8 employed in conjunction with the new base board radiator C.

Obviously, the heating installations B may vary and include, for example, the risers 20 and 2| of Figure 1, with elbow 22 and T-coupling 23 with convention air valve 24. In the example shown in Fig. 1, both risers are near one end of the installation.

The new base board radiator 0 comprises a housing 39, damper 3 l, a core or cores 32, brackets 33 for the core or cores, and securing means 3A for retaining the damper in adjusted positions. Means 35 may be employed to secure the housin 30 to the wall it, and means 36 is preferably provided to latch a front wall of the housing to the rear wall thereof.

Referring first to Fig. 8, the housing 30 includes a rear wall comprising a vertical section 4!, from which extends an upper wall or horizontal section d2 extending forwardly from the upper end of the section ii, a downturned, preferably narrow section 33 at the forward end of the sec tion 52, a preferably narrow horizontal section 54 substantially paralleling the section 42 and extending inwardly from the lower end of the section dd and an upturned flange section 5 at the inner end or" the section 6&- extending toward but free of the section 32. The sections 43, id and A with the adjacent part of the section d2 provides a channeled member for swingably retaining the upper end portion of the damper 3] to be described. Extending along the inner or lower face of the section :52 at the outer end portions of this section are tongued members 56 (one being well shown in Fig. 5). Each of these may have an attaching flat portion 3' welded or otherwise secured to the section 52 and a stepped portion :18 providing an outwardly extending tongue spaced below the adjacent portion of the section 42, with its outer free end edge in substantially the same vertical plane as the end edge of the associated section 32. This provides a recess to accommodate a flange of the end wall G l to be described. Similar tongued members d9 having fiat portions 50 and tongued portions 5i may be secured to the wall section ll at the end edge portions thereof to provide recesses for receiving other flanges of the end walls 59 as will be described.

The housing 3% also includes a front wall 55 comprising a vertically-disposed main wall section 55, an L-shaped flange 57 at its upper end and an inwardly and upwardly extending flange 58 at its lower end forming a V. The wall section 58 is of less height than the wall section M, as may be seen in Fig. 8 and, when assembled with the other wall sections, its upper end is spaced from the upper wall section 42, the space providin a warm air exit 59 (Fig. 2) while its lower end is spaced from the floor l5 providing an air entrance.

There is, preferably, no bottom wall to the housing.

Each end wall 68, shown particularly in Fig. 7, comprises a vertical wall section 6! having a rear flange 52 preferably extending from the bottom edge of the wall section 5! to the upper edge thereof but having a diagonal cut out 3 at adjacent this upper edge (portions of which flange 62 extend into the recess defined by the tongued portion 5i and adjacent wall section 4|) an upper flange ii (which extends into the recess defined by the wall section 52 and stepped portion 58) and a front flange 65 which has a cutout 66 to accommodate the end portion of the damper iii and flange El? which latter rests upon the lower edge of the cutout. The flang 6.5 ends short of the lower end of the wall section 6| so as to accommodate the flange 58 which slips into the V defined by this fiange and the adjacent wall section 55, and is in frictional engagement therewith at the juncture of flange 58 and wall section 55. In the same way the upper end edge portion of the flange 55 extends into the channel formed by the flange 5'! and adjacent wall section 56. It will be noted that there is a small tongue 51 of the flange 65 above the cutout 66 and this is adapted to snugly flt into the channel formed by the sections 42, 43, Ml and. 45. This association of parts frictionally retains the end walls 69 to the wall sections mentioned, and when the end walls 60 are in place the housing defines a chamber to accommodate the damper 3i, core or cores 32, brackets 33, and risers 20 and 2i with their fittings. lhe housing may be of sheet steel or like material.

The damper 3 I, best shown in Fig. 10, comprises a wall section 10 of a length and width so that when hanging vertically it will completely close the warm air exit 59. It has at its upper end an outwardly and downwardly extending flange H which is adapted to project into the channeled member defined by the sections s3, Aid and 45 and adjacent portion of the section as, there being an up-and-down play of the flange H therein so that the flange may be inserted into the channel. When the damper is vertical its lower edge 72 will abut the flange 5?. Suitable handles or hand holds it may be secured to the outer face of the wall section ill to project forwardly thereof. The damper may be of sheet steel.

The core or coil assembly of Fig. l is preferably composed of a plurality of conventional radiator cores or coils Such cores or coils may be assembled end for end as required, since the ends telescope. They are finned as at it with the fins spaced apart, providing recesses, and extending from a central tube 76. The terminal tubes at one end of the assembly are secured, as is well known in the art to the couplings 22 and 23 and the terminal tubes at the other end of the assembly are secured, as is well known in the art, to an elbow ll or the like.

One of the brackets 33 for the cores 32 is shown specifically in Figs. 2 and 9 and comprises two spaced-apart, horizontally disposed arms 653 and 81, one above the other and joining a vertically disposed arm 82 which extends, as at 33, preferably slightly upwardly beyond the arm 81. The bracket 33 may be of stamped thin sheet steel and the end edges of the free ends of the arms 8!) and 8! are adapted to abut a face of a bracket holder 84 while the adjacent portion of these free ends have downwardly opening slots 85 which hook over tongues 86 projecting upwardly from and away from the holder at, being preferably struck from the material (sheet steel, preferably) of the holder. The tongues are fairly wide (as, for example one-half inch) so that the brackets may slide along the tongues and swing as the cores expand and contract. The arm Bil is adapted to be positioned between two adjacent fins '55, of a core as in Fig. 2, and, if a second core is employed above the first, the arm 8! is adapted to flt between two adjacent fins 75 of the latter core, with the arm 82 also between the fins of the first core and the arm portion 533 between the fins of the core above it. A core may be mounted upon a bracket between the arms iii) and 8! by slipping it into the opening at the free ends of the arms. A core above it may be slipped over the arm BI and with the projection 83 between two fins.

Any suitable means may be provided to secure the bracket holder 84 to the wall section i I. For example, the bracket holder 3% may carry an inverted keyhole slot 8! for a headed screw (not shown) extending through a suitable opening in the wall section 3!, or welding 88 may be employed, as in Fig. 11,

This bracket holder 84 preferably carries the securing means 34 for retaining the damper 3| in adjusted positions and is shown in Figs. 2 and 9. This may be a horizontal offset 89 from one edge of the holder 84 projecting toward the front wall section 56 and disposed at the upper portion of the holder. The offset is provided with a plurality of stepped abutments, such as 90, 9| and 92, which are adapted to receive the free end portion of the damper with a part of the edge I2 resting against any selected abutment. There is a defined slot 93 at the lowermost portion of the offset having a curved lug 94 along the rear edge of the slot and adapted to springingly retain the front wall 55, as in Fig. 11 when the latter section is in position and has a portion of the flange 51 in the slot 93, thus assisting in preventing vibrations or swinging of the front wall section 56.

The means 35 may be suitable headed nails, shown in Fig. 2, extending through suitable aligning perforations preferably in the rear wall section M and bracket holder 84, and with their free ends extending into the wall I6.

In Figs. 2, 9 and 12 is shown means 36 to latch the front wall 55 to the rear wall 40 in order to further prevent oscillations of the former. This means comprises a swinging member 95 preferably of resilient wire, formed with an inverted L-shaped rear portion 96, a bowed intermediate portion 91 and a hook-like front portion 98 with the latter adapted to be manually hooked over th flange 58 of the front wall 55. This member 95 is swingably carried, to swing horizontally, by a bracket holder 84 as by slitting and upsetting the material of the same to provide a knuckle 9-9 adapted to receive the larger part of the portion 95 as a pivot for the member 95. In shipping the knocked down radiator housing, the member 95 may b swung to the dotted position in Fig. 12 but manually brought to the full line position in order to employ it, as is now obvious.

The swinging of the brackets 33 is of major importance since the cores generally heat up quickly and expand longitudinally. It has been discovered that, because of ability of the brackets to swing, the fins are not bent, torn loose nor otherwise damaged, nor do the core bodies buckle. On the other hand expansion and contraction of the cores does not tear th brackets loose from their supports.

The most forward edges or faces of the oflsets 89 are in substantially the same vertical plane and these edges are adapted to abut th inner face of the front wall section 56, thus aiding in the rigidity of the radiator housing.

The housing sections, preferably being of sheet steel may be readily cut to size in the event it is not possible to employ, for example, three complete units. Since the rear wall 40 is fixed to the wall l6 as by the means 35, the rear wall may be abbreviated longitudinally and abut the adjacent rear wall, as in Fig. 4. The conventional cores are also generally adapted to be out to length.

In the event but a single run of cores is desired. the elbow ll of Fig. 1 may be continued, as conduit (not shown) to parallel the cores and be disposed upon the arms 8l. This conduit may, of course, connect with the T-coupling 23.

The damper 31 is hung by slipping its flange H over the section 45, and the front wall 55 is supported by the offset 89 which, thus, has dual functions since it also provides the means 34.

Various changes may be made to the form of the invention herein shown and described without department from the spirit of the invention or scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A baseboard radiator employing a heated fluid-containing core having spaced-apart fins, a housing for the core, including a wall section, and suspension means for the core comprising a substantially straight horizontal row of spacedapart bracket holders removably secured to and extending from said wall section including upwardly-projecting pairs of tongues extending into the housing, the tongues of each pair being substantially directly one above the other, and a core-supporting bracket for each pair of tongues, said bracket having a pair of spaced-apart arms, each arm being provided with a downwardlyopening slot to receive a tongue in a substantially horizontally-swinging relationship of said arms with said tongues when a coil is supported by said bracket, and connecting means rigidly conmeeting the pair of arms in substantial parallelism.

2. A baseboard radiator according to claim 1 characterized in that said arms are substantially straight and flat throughout their lengths and are of a thinness so that one of said arms may be readily inserted between adjacent fins of the core.

3. A baseboard radiator according to claim 1 characterized in that said arms have upper coresupporting edges and lower edges with said slots extending into said lower edges and being remote from said connecting means.

4. A baseboard radiator according to claim 1 characterized in that said bracket is a thin, substantially fiat metallic member, said connecting means comprises an arm, and said pair of arms is spaced-apart substantially parallel and straight, and secured to and disposed substantially normal to the first arm, said pair of arms being provided with core-supporting edges and edges substantially parallel thereto, with said slots extending into th last-named edges and being remote from said first arm.

CHESTER M. WILCOX.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 12,004 Auer June 24, 1902 1,620,632 Broderick Mar. 15, 1927 1,882,452 Shurtlefi Oct. 11, 1932 1,855,565 Bennett Apr. 26, 1932 1,885,537 Murray, Jr. et a1 Nov. 1, 1932 1,970,945 Rypinski Aug. 21, 1934 1,971,841 Young Aug. 28, 1934 2,241,864 Maier May 13, 1941 2,477,824 Reiss Aug. 2, 1949 2,487,287 Weber et al. Nov. 8, 1949 2,501,147 Tolan Mar. 21, 1950 2,516,871 Haugen Aug. 1, 1950 2,539,293 Balzer Jan. 23, 1951 

